This invention relates to an assembly for mounting an air bag cover which is disposed to cover an opening formed in an instrument panel of a vehicle in front of the assistant driver's seat and which is opened by an air bag when the air bag is expanded.
A type of air bag apparatus housed inside an instrument panel of a motor vehicle in front of the assistant driver's seat is known. This apparatus operates to protect the occupant seating on the assistant driver's seat from impacts resulting from abrupt deceleration during an emergency state of the vehicle.
In the structure of this air bag apparatus housed inside the instrument panel in front of the assistant driver's seat, an opening through which the air bag can pass when expanded is formed in the instrument panel, and this opening is closed with an air bag cover.
The air bag apparatus operates in such a manner that as the air bag expands when an emergency state of the vehicle takes place, the air bag cover is swung by the pressure of expansion of the air bag to be opened toward the occupant. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,327,937 and Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 50-147337 disclose examples of this type of apparatus.)
In this conventional art, the air bag cover is mounted in such a manner that an attachment member embedded in the air bag cover at one end thereof is fixed to the body of the vehicle by bolts.
The attachment member is formed of a thin plate-like member in order that the air bag cover can be easily opened by the expansion pressure of the air bag, and bolt holes in which bolts are inserted are formed in the attachment member. There is therefore a possibility of the attachment member of the air bag cover breaking at the bolt holes, flying in pieces and breaking the expanding air bag when the air bag cover is opened.